With less than three weeks until election day the cost of one facet of Kirksville’s economic development future remains unknown, with voters to decide on an $18 million wastewater bond issue.

In the absence of Director of Economic Development Carolyn Chrisman, who was in California with the Missouri Partnership economic development group working on business recruitment, much discussion at Tuesday’s K-REDI meeting centered on the wastewater proposal and its importance to local job creation efforts.

The K-REDI board seemed largely in support of the issue, with board president Burt Beard honing in on a crucial economic point.

“If we would have a company approach Kirksville about coming here and they’re a high-volume water user, we simply could not handle them at this point in time,” he said.

Approval of the bond issue will hit Kirksville residents in their wallets, with local utility rates expected to increase 10 percent yearly over the next five years to cover repayment.

However, Mayor Richard Detweiler, a K-REDI board member, said because the current plant must be replaced to meet new EPA regulations, the city would need to pursue lease financing to build a new wastewater plant if the bond issue failed. The interest rates on such a move would be significantly higher than the low bond rates the city can secure, and all costs would be passed onto utility users.

That means a “no” vote against the bond issue equates to a vote in favor of an even higher utility bill for local residents.

“This really is not a choice,” Detweiler said.

In addition to meeting increased standards, a new plant would increase capacity from 3.16 million gallons per day, to 4 million gallons per day. The current plant, in addition to being “beyond its useful life existence,” Detweiler said, is operating close to capacity.

The City of Kirksville hosted a public information meeting on the bond issue Tuesday and will host another next Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Adair County Annex Building.

In other K-REDI-related news, Beard announced that Dan Hamlet had been hired as the new business counselor at the Small Business Technology and Development Center/Innovation Center, a position previously held by Charlene Boyes. The office is located in the Economic Development Alliance building that houses Chrisman’s office. The Center focuses on small business needs and efforts toward helping small start-ups.